Effect of Chlorella vulgaris on serum cholesterol‐regulation in healthy subjects and hypercholesterolemia

Abstract

Recently, patients with hyperlipidemia including hypercholesterolemia have increased steadily as dietary habit has been changed to western style based on high‐fat diet. Since hypercholesterolemia can develop serious cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction, stroke and atherosclerosis, studies to prevent and treat this have been consistently reported. Chlorella contains a variety of nutrients such as chlorophyll, vegetable protein, essential amino acids, vitamins and dietary fiber. And its function has been approved in the aspects of its antioxidant capacity and enhancement of immune function. In the previous study, cholesterol level reducing effect has been confirmed in animal.Therefore, this study aimed to confirm that ingestion of chlorella for normal subjects interferes with the absorption of cholesterol coming from high cholesterol diet and lowers the blood cholesterol level. Additionally, it aimed to confirm the reduction of blood cholesterol level before and after ingestion of chlorella for patients with hypercholesterolemia. This study is a randomized, parallel‐group, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial.Besides cholesterol level, in order to confirm the extent of systemic absorption of carotenoids, the major active component of chlorella, we analyzed the level of lutein, zeaxanthin, alpha‐carotene, beta‐carotene, lycopene by HPLC in the serum before and after ingestion of chlorella.